Thursday, July 14, 2016

How Are Americans Really Doing Financially?

FINRA Investor Education Foundation released the results of a study on the financial status of people living in the United States. View the report titled "Financial Capability in the United States 2016" to see findings nationally and by state. The percentage of survey responders who report no difficulty covering their monthly bills increased from 36% in 2009 to 48% in 2015. Those who report having emergency funds on hand increased from 35% in 2009 to 46%. The percentage of responders who fall into the "high" financial literacy category (could answer 4 of 5 basic financial questions correctly) dropped from 42% in 2009 to 37% in 2015. (Test your financial literacy skills by trying to answer these three questions correctly (no peeking at the answers).

Education makes a difference in financial resilience. Almost half of the responders with a high school education or less say they could not raise $2,000 in 30 days in case of an emergency. Among responders with a college degree, the percentage was 18%.